It's Been Dark Too Long
by KaoruTheIndraWielder
Summary: Kaoru is a warrior in the fantasy world of Iruna. Follow her as she adventures and slays her way to becoming a paladin! One day Kao decides to participate in Valentine Event 2016 in Rokoko City. She ends up with an ailment from a monster, and it takes longer to heal than she thought! Rated K-plus for monster slaying.
1. The Jaunt

Kaoru jogged around Rokoko City, her pet Brosch, Akihiko, at her side. She turned a corner, onto a road she knew well. It was the territory of GM Neints, and she was prepared to return to the Valentine Venue to farm candy creatures for their healing chocolate drops. Kaoru stopped just short of Neints and chatted with him, and was escorted to the Venue immediately.

She ran excitedly past Michal and up the stairs to the first floor. There many players with fancy armor and extravagant hairstyles were slaying waves of Cacao Kijimus and Cocoa Colons. The Cacao Kijimus were like any other Kijimu species—round root creatures with a stout build, chomping jaws and little eyes—but instead of a flower growing out of its head was an oversized cacao bean. Cocoa Colons were made of large nuts with greedy munching faces and were dark brown, the color of bitter chocolate, and walked on two chartreuse-colored leaves. On their heads were red and white striped ribbons. Both creatures were level 10, easy kill. Kaoru easily slayed hordes of them in mere minutes. They rarely dropped any items, but she relished the opportunity to take them when they did drop something. she made her way through the maze of halls and went upstairs to the second floor.

In it were hordes of level 20 Blunder Chocolate and Chocolate Balls. Blunder Chocolates were burnt-black gelatinous masses with eerily-glowing orange eyes. They attacked in quick succession but weren't too strong for Kaoru to handle by smashing their slimy forms a few times with her Indra. They often dropped burnt, failed, or spicy chocolate, and occasionally sweet chocolate, all of which had healing properties. Chocolate Balls were small, egg-like creatures with cracks like visors revealing a blackness and nothing else but two beady golden eyes. They wouldn't attack without being provoked but had stamina and put up a fight when attacked. They left behind milk or eggs, which boosted health. It didn't take too long to destroy them and run upstairs to the third floor.

Kao noticed that the creatures in the Venue were placed in patterns: the odd-numbered floors had Cacao Kijimus and Cocoa Colons, and the even-numbered floors had Blunder Chocolates and Chocolate Balls. She was surrounded by Kijimus and Colons once more, and near evenly matched: the creatures here were level 30 and she was level 35. But with some critical hits here and there, and Akihiko assisting with small attacks and restoring her HP, she was able to do away with them pretty easy. Up the stairs Kaoru went once again, to the fourth floor.

 **A/N: This is my first Iruna Online fanfic, chronicling Kaoru . Expect more to come!**


	2. The Fourth Floor

Stopping at the top of the stairs to catch her breath and have a few Kijimu Leaves, letting Akihiko heal her, Kao scanned the area for any nearby monsters. The creatures here were level 40 and could drain half her HP if she wasn't lucky. A wandering Blunder Chocolate caught her eye. Casting Protection on herself, she carefully approached the Blunder and attacked it critically with her weapon. With a rush of burnt-black slime, the Blunder hurled its sludgy mass at her, splashing some dark goop in her face.

* * *

 **KAORU**

 _What's going on? The entire area is getting dark!_ I looked down at the Blunder that hat attacked me. I could see it right in front of me but everything behind it melted into a black abyss. And my pet was gone. Was this an Ailment? Tentatively I stepped forward with my hands outstretched in front of me, groping through the darkness and calling out "Aki?...Aki?" in the hopes that he'd make some noise in reply. I immediately tripped over something thick and clammy. I was caught by the substance as it crawled up my ankle. Squinting through the hazy gloom I could make out two glowing orange lights. The Blunder Chocolate was trying to eat me alive! Panicking, I swung wildly at the thing trying to destroy it, and more often than not I missed it. When I did it started creeping higher up my leg and attacked me with its painful bite. I became weak and weary from attacking it. Suddenly I saw a faint greenish...light? I felt stronger and realized that Akihiko was healing me! With each hit I felt somewhat at ease, and with his help I could feel the cold repulsive feeling fading away. I had destroyed a higher-level creature in whatever was causing the darkness.

I took a moment to think of all the ailments I had committed to mind. Poison, paralysis, fear, bleeding, draining, stunning, dizziness, lethargy, burning, freezing, and...blindness. Had I gone blind?! _Oh well_ , I thought. _It's an Ailment, it'll go away eventually..._


End file.
